Combined end-gate and shovel-board.



PATENTED OCT. 3, 1905. 0. D. MATTIX.

COMBINED END GATE AND SHOVEL BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED JAILZO. 1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT @FFTCE.

COMBINED END-GATE AND SHOVEL-BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3, 1905.

Application filed January 20, 1905. Serial No. 242,016.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES D. MATTIX, a citizen of the United States,residing at Beacon, in the county of Mahaska and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined End-Gate andShovel-Board, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in wagon end-gates.

The object of the invention is to improve the construction of wagonend-gates and to provide a simple, inexpensive, and eflicient oneadapted to be securely locked in its closed position by automatic actionof its parts and capable of being readily arranged to form ashoveling-board or for dumping and of being readily and quickly fastenedto or detached from the wagon.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method of attachingthe end-gate to the bottom of the wagon-bed in such a way that the samecan be readily adjusted so as to be at all times grain-tight.

I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the end-gate inposition as a shoveling-board. Fig. 2 is a similar view thereof withend-gate in closed position. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view showing theend-gate-locking device, also the method of attaching the end-gate tobottom of wagonbed and manner of adjusting same so as to be at all timesgrain-tight.

The wagon-bed, as shown in Fig. 1, may be of any approved construction.The end-gate, as shown in Fig. l, is made of one-inch flooring securelynailed to cross-bars or cleats of sufficient size to make same firm anddurable. On the side edges of the end-gate are forwardly-extendingwings, which engage the sides of the wagon-bed and serve to preventlateral play to the gate. These side wings may be either wooden orsteel. Except the manner of attaching the end-gate to wagonbed at bottomand method of adjusting same so as to be grain-tight, as hereinafterdescribed, the framework of any ordinarily-constructed combinationend-gate and shovelingboard might be used and my appliances for liftingand locking in the closed position to form an end-gate and lowering andfastening in position to scoop from attached thereto.

Attached to the wings on each side of the end-gate are thestaple or loopcastings D,

having a full or closed. loop at the upper end of said casting D and atthe lower end and at right angles to the full loop an open or half loop,with the upper end of outside arm made oval and lower end beveled. Thiscasting is made of malleable iron. The end-gate is connected with thesides of the wagon-bed by the arms A and B. The arm B is furcated ordouble at its upper end for about one-half its length, and the lower endis single and cut down one-half in thickness. In the bottom side of thedouble or furcated end of the arm B is a notch just large enough toengage the bottom arm of casting C, hereinafter described. The open orhalf loop at lower end of casting D is just large enough to admitbetween its two sides the lower single end of the arm B, which is joinedto it by a rivet upon which this end of the arm B works as a pivot asthe end-gate is raised or lowered. The full loop at upper end of castingD is large enough to allow the double or furcated end of the arm B'toreadily pass through and allow the necessary motion upward and downwardas the end-gate is raised and lowered. The full loop on casting D on itsupper side comes almost flush with top of side wings of end-gate andruns parallel with it. One end of the arm A works between the two sidesof the furcated end of the arm B, and A is connected to B by a rivetupon which A works as a pivot when end-gate is raised or lowered. Theother end of A terminates in a hook.

O is a loop or staple casting fastened to the sides of the wagon-bed.Through this loop the arms A and furcated ends of arm B pass, and thecurved hooks at end of arm A catch on bottom arm of casting C when gateis lowered to shovel from and is thus held in the shoveling position.When raised to form an end-gate, the notch in B engages the bottom armof C, holding the gate securely locked to wagon in this position.

The loop or staple casting C is made wide enough to permit the freepassage of arms A and B and high enough to allow upper end of arm A tojust swing under upper arm of the loop when A is dropped into a verticalposition, which it must do when the gate is locked in its uprightposition. The bottom arm of loop-casting C is just Wide enough tocompletely fill the notch in bottom side of B. The sides of theloop-casting G slant from the top arm downward and rearwardly to bottomarm a distance equal to the width of top arm, so that top of arm A, whenit drops to vertical position as gate is raised and locked in closedposition, rests under top arm of loop-casting C. The arms A and B andthe castings C and D are all made of malleable iron.

End-gate is attached to wagon-bed at bottom, as shown in Fig. 3. Passingthrough the cleat at rear of wagon-box is the U-bolt E, which is made ofwrought-iron. On the bottom of the end-gate are the plates F, whichextend beyond the bottom edge of end-gate in curved hooks formingpintles and engaging the eyes or openings of the U-bolt E. One prong ofthe U-bolt E goes clear through the cleat at bottom of wagon-box and isthreaded and supplied with a nut. By tightening this nut the end-gatemay always be adjusted so as to fit grain-tight against the wagon-bed.Recesses are made in the bottom of the wagonbed between the prongs ofthe U-bolt E, so that they will engage the projecting hooks of theplates F when the end-gate is lowered to form a shoveling-board. Todetach end-gate from wagon-bed so as to dump shelled grain, it is onlynecessary to lift the end-gate till the projecting hooks at end ofplates F are released from the eyes of the U-bolts E.

The invention has the following advantages: The end-gate is simple andinexpensive in construction, strong and durable, can be readily andquickly detached from wagon-box without the use of tools, can be raisedand locked for an end-gate or lowered and fastened in place for ashoveling-board by the operator without getting off the wagon by reasonof the automatic action of the locking and fastening devices, and can bekept at all times grain-tight by simply tightening a nut.

Changes in form, proportion,size,and minor details of constructionwithin the scope of the appended claim may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of thisinvention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

The combination with a Wagon-body of an end-gate detachably hinged atits lower edge to the wagon-body at the bottom thereof as follows: athreaded hook or U-bolt passing through rear cleat of Wagon-box; ironplates on bottom edge of end-gate ending in eXtending books which entereyes of the U-bolt in wagon-box and recesses in cleat of wagon-boxbetween the prongs of U-bolt, which receive the projecting hooks whengate is lowered: a locking device to secure the gate in a verticalposition or in an inclined position for shovel ing, same consisting ofthe arms A ending in a hook at front end and attached to arm B at otherend by a rivet-joint; the arm B, doubled or furcated at front endbetween the arms of which the arm A Works, with its other end madesingleand reduced in thickness so as to enter opening in half-loop of castingD and attached thereto by a rivet-hinge, said armB also having a notchon under side of double or furcated ends which automatically engageslower arm of casting C when gate is locked and the loop or staplecastings C and D all substantially as heretofore described.

in testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

CHARLES D. MATTIX.

Witnesses:

AARON W. MATTIX, MARK SHANGLE.

